Mariano sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for $18M Navy scheme

Friday

Nov 1, 2013 at 10:11 AM

PROVIDENCE, R.I. –– Ralph M. Mariano, a former Navy employee who hatched a scheme that stole nearly $18 million in Navy contract money through shell companies, while the fallout led to more than 100 innocent employees losing their jobs, netted a diff

By Mike McKinney

PROVIDENCE, R.I. –– Ralph M. Mariano, a former Navy employee who hatched a scheme that stole nearly $18 million in Navy contract money through shell companies, while the fallout led to more than 100 innocent employees losing their jobs, netted a different number Friday: 10 years in federal prison.

When Mariano, through his lawyer, made statements about deserving leniency, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi said Friday, “That rings hollow, when I consider the devastation you left in your wake.”

Mariano, 55, of Warwick, was also ordered, along with the various others convicted in the scheme, to make restitution for $17,957,000. But whether the taxpayers and the U.S. Navy will ever be made whole again remains to be seen.

As a result of “Mr. Mariano’s avarice and arrogance,” Lisi said, “his 82-year-old father is now a convicted felon.”

Mariano, who had no previous criminal record and has been held on bond for some three years, was ordered to report to prison on Nov. 26 by 2 p.m.

The devastation, Lisi said, was to the taxpayers, his friends, the Navy and “all of these people” who lost their jobs when, in February 2011 Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow, or ASFT, with Middletown and Georgia offices, closed after the Navy suspended its contracts following the allegations.

Mariano “wanted to live the life,” Lisi said.

According to prosecutors, that was a life lavishing thousands and thousands of dollars on things such as gambling vacations to Aruba, Mexico and Las Vegas, a life in which he spent more than $100,000 on luxury cigars and thousands of dollars on luxury restaurants and strip clubs, the prosecution said in court filings.

In February 2011, Mariano was arrested along with Anjan Dutta-Gupta, who founded and was president of ASFT. Dutta-Gupta was accused of funneling millions of dollars to Mariano, his relatives and friends in return for getting Navy contracts for the technology firm.

Mariano sought payments from Dutta-Gupta and also directed that shell corporations be created that claimed to be subcontractors for ASFT - billing ASFT nearly $18 million for work that was not done, according to the prosecution.

In May, Mariano pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence to three felonies: conspiracy to commit theft of government property, theft of government property and tax evasion for under reporting his earnings by $1.8 million.

The Probation Department, according to prosecutors, decided that Mariano fell within a sentencing guideline range of 97 months to 121 months.

Prosecutors Lee H. Vilker and Terrence P. Donnelly sought the top end of that, saying the Probation Department agreed that Mariano had failed to since show that he accepted responsibility for his actions.

As a civilian engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Mariano’s salary was $155,500 per year in 2011, the prosecution said, but despite that was motivated by greed.

But Mariano’s lawyer had argued in court filings that the prosecution sought a high sentence at least in part because Mariano has alleged prosecutorial misconduct in documents he has sent to the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

Mariano “accepted responsibility in May” and never retracted the plea, his lawyer has noted.

Mariano on Friday asked the judge for some leniency. He told the judge his actions that were part of the allegations had been “foolish” and “stupid.”

“There’s a lot more to Mr. Mariano than a convicted felon,” his lawyer, John L Calcagni, said. “He’s done many good things in his life.”

His lawyer spoke of people making mistakes, some worse than others.

“You’re suggesting this is a mistake?” Lisi said. “A mistake, Mr. Calcagni? You mean he didn’t know what he was doing?”